Abney Associates
Medicare card scam asks for bank, Social Security information
“Do I have a scam for you!”
That was one of the phone messages waiting for me when I arrived for work one morning last month, the day after we published my Sunday column announcing the introduction of our new weekly feature, “Scam of the Week” (July 28: “Under siege by scammers? Tell us about it”).
Sure, I thought to myself, ever the skeptical journalist. That’s what they are all going to say.
As it turns out, the caller wasn’t exaggerating. Not only that, but she was one of two people to contact us that day about this blatant telephone scam aimed at older folks on Medicare – one that not so coincidentally has prompted renewed warnings of late from regional Better Business Bureaus across the country.
Several weeks ago, Johannah Miller of Albuquerque received a telephone call from a man who claimed to be responsible for sending out new Medicare cards.
According to Miller, the conversation went something like this:
Caller : Is this Johannah Miller?
Miller : Yes.
Caller : I’m calling from Washington, D.C., and we are going to be issuing a new Medicare card. Do you live at …
Miller : Yes.
Caller : What’s the name of your bank?
Miller : Why don’t you tell me?
Caller : I’m here to verify information from you; you’re not to verify information from me.
Miller : You know, this sounds like a scam.
Caller : (Click).
End of story? Not so fast.
The next day, she says, her husband, Lewis, received a similar call, asking such personal questions as the name of his bank – he had some fun with the caller by saying it was the Predators and Defaulters National Bank – and whether the routing number on his bank account starts with a “0-1″ or “1-0.”
When her husband asked, “Where are you calling from,” the caller hung up.
Unfortunately, not all of these phishing expeditions for personal financial information have such a happy ending.